How To Be Selfish The Right Way

Growing up, many of us are taught that being selfish is a bad thing. Don't be stingy. Share your toys. Don’t eat it unless you have enough for the whole class. Enough of these sayings and lessons definitely will condition you to act a certain way. Most of the time acting selfless is a good thing; but, there are huge benefits to allowing yourself to be selfish for a short period of time before returning back to the nice, giving person that we should be. Let’s take a look…

Signals That Mean You Need To Be More Selfish

Having the habit of being selfless is a good habit to have. However, there are a couple of signals you may see which mean that you may need to be more selfish to change your situation.

When it comes to learning anything new—or something worth learning—and you find yourself trying to multitask by becoming a key player in someone else's to-do list, this is a sign that you might need to become a little bit more selfish with your time. You’re not giving your studies enough attention to really grasp the information and make lasting connections in your brain for better understanding.

If you’re creating a product, business or a way to earn a profit that will give you the financial freedom that you have dreamt of, but you are continually putting your efforts on hold to appease other people wants, then you may need to be a little more selfish with where you place your efforts.

If you are mastering your craft that will lead you to providing a great service for the marketplace, but time you’re putting in for perfecting your craft is dwarfed because of outside demands, then you may want to be more selfish with who you give your time to and give more of it to yourself to perfect your skills

The Right Type Of Selfish

The right way of being selfish is to take the time you need for yourself to better yourself. As Jim Rohn expressed, “Self education will make you a fortune,” so be a little selfish with your alone time to feed your mind with the tools needed to advance your life in the direction of your choosing.

You are rightfully being selfish when it comes to committing time to self education. You are giving yourself time to rewire your brain. All of the limiting beliefs you have collected throughout your lifetime that you have been unaware of—mainly because you’ve been giving your attention to everyone else around you—you are now giving yourself the time needed for you to release these beliefs.

Many people talk about how it’s more important to help others then to be so absorbed in monetary or material gain. This is true, being of service brings fulfillment into life, but if you are constantly struggling yourself, it’s not much helping others you can do without stretching yourself out too thin. You may want to be there to help others, but if you’re not where you desire to be in life, then your reach in how many people lives you can positively affect is very short. The better thing to do is put more of your resources into growing yourself and your business or service until you are in a better position to reach more people and have a bigger impact on your community.

Get a little selfish and put time in to advance yourself. Whatever your passion or profession may be, put more time in perfecting your craft than giving it to others. Look at this kind of selfishness as an investment. The more you invest in yourself, the more you grow. The more you grow, the more influential you are in your area of expertise. The more influential, the more impactful you can be on the issues you care strongly about.

How This Kind Of Selfishness Helps Others

As I already hinted towards, being selfish for a certain period of time will lead to you having more power to be selfless in the long run. If you are in love with the idea of giving to charity to change the state of the world, then how more impactful can you be if you put more energy, in the beginning, into growing your net worth to have the ability to give more to charity.

I remember hearing a story about Bill Gates wanting to help others by giving to charity but he was focused on putting all of his profits back into his company. He received a lot of backlash from friends viewing him as selfish, but he persisted and now he’s able to give to charities in a way he would have never been able to if he would have gave into to the backlash in the beginning.

Think about how much impact Nate Parker has been able to make with his film “The Birth of a Nation”. He was patient for 7 years while he raised funds to get the movie made. Meanwhile, acting in other movies surely helped to keep him going, he was selfish in the fact that he placed his time and energy into his craft. This led him to be able to make a film that will inspire a generation of movie directors, producers and independent filmmakers; let alone become a timeless screenplay for people to enjoy.

There are examples upon examples that can be written about to illustrate the power of becoming selfish for a time in order to be selfless in a grander way. Give yourself the time and energy into creating and growing something that will put you in a better position to give and help others. The more abundance you experience in many aspects of your life, the more you are able to give and to be of service to others.

After reading this, is there any examples of how being selfish for a period of time can lead to a person being in a better position to be selfless? Can you point to any people you know that have proven this concept? Comment and Share!